Mossman's M416 inspired build

slascalza

Member
Weld on hinges

If you don't mind me asking but where did you get your hinges?
The trailer looks awesome. Keep up the good work.
Thank you
 

jjmoss99

Observer
Now that summer is over i've made some progress. I ordered all the camp lighting, wiring, and the shocks which should be all the parts that will be needed for finishing the trailer after I get it painted.

I spent the day Monday working on drilling all the holes for running the wiring in the frame. I also mounted the battery box on the front platform and drilled all the holes that I need to run the wiring in and out of the box. I finally began cleaning up the welds and getting the sheet metal cleaned and ready for paint.

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Today I finally pulled the trigger and bought the paint from the local automotive paint store. My wife wanted to paint the trailer canary yellow but I wanted to have something a little more subtle. I ended up choosing to make the fenders and front platform black and then the tub and lid will be a grey. I've never sprayed paint with a paint gun before so hopefully I can make it look good and not ruin $400 in paint.

Hopefully I'll get everything painted this weekend and will be able to post some pictures so everyone can see. Thanks.

Justin
 

Greg_Volkman

Observer
Super nice job! I want to modify my rear cross member and install a hitch. I envy your frame strength...heck, that whole thing looks strong!
 

jjmoss99

Observer
Thanks Greg. I have been known to over engineer things when I build.

I have a trip planned in a few weeks, so I'm working overtime trying to get the trailer done so that it can come along as well. It's going to be close.

I didn't make as much progress on the paint this weekend so I'm now going to be painting in the evenings after work. I'll have some pics to post up soon.

Justin
 

jjmoss99

Observer
Well I have been busy and haven't updated my build thread in a while. I have a bunch of pics to upload.

I began painting the trailer 9/2016. Being the first time that i'd painted I took my time and worked hard to get even coverage. I expected to have the paint completed over the weekend. I ended up spending most of the weekend getting the prep work done. The painting then ended up being done during the week when I got home from work. I ended up spending over 40 hours prepping and painting the trailer in one week. I started off by painting the full trailer in a good etched primer.

Paint1.jpeg

Painting the trailer two different colors definitely added some difficulty to the painting process. After the primer I began painting the inside of the tub, the fenders, and the bottom of the trailer with a glossy black.

Paint2.jpeg

After that I worked on painting the outside of the tub, the entire lid a grey color.

Paint3.jpeg

I have more to update and will continue as I have time. Thanks.

Justin
 

jjmoss99

Observer
I finished the paint 1 week before I was supposed to leave on a trip. I spent a bunch of time working on getting the trailer lights wired up. I finished getting the trailer ready to go as the kids got off the bus from school. We loaded up the gear and headed out. The trailer towed very well. It tracked well behind the pickup and the shocks on the axle really cut down on the bounce going down the rough road. We got to camp the first night and enjoyed the evening. The weather turned during the night and rained for the next 36 hours so we came home early.

Trailer3.jpeg

After the first trip it was time to begin working on wiring the camp lights and the battery. In order to keep the battery from moving around while bouncing along the trail I had wanted to build a metal frame inside the aluminum box on the front of the trailer that I could strap the battery too. This framework would also be used to hold the switches, battery disconnect, and fuse panel. It would bolt through the aluminum box and attach to the trailer for added strength. This is what I came up with.

Trailer5.jpeg

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I found some button LED lights and mounted them in the sides of the trailer and the point at a 45 degree angle down towards the ground. They are wired into an LED dimmer in the front box. This allows me to adjust the lighting based on how much light we need around camp.

Trailer8.jpeg

While this was all going on I got a call from a good friend J.R., and he wondered if I would be interested in a great deal on a RTT. My wife even agreed that I couldn't pass it up. We met up shortly after my first trip and got it installed on my trailer.

Trailer4.jpeg

Trailer2.jpeg

This last winter we began talking about going on a trip the summer of 2017 over the Magruder Corridor and the Lolo Motorway. As the date got closer I began getting stuff packed up and trying to decide how I wanted to organize the gear to achieve the best tongue weight. The kids, my cousin Tom and I met up with J.R. and we proceeded to begin the trip. We spent 4 nights on the trail. I found that jackknifing the trailer when I get to camp allows me to easily access the bed of the pickup as well as the trailer without having to disconnect the trailer from the pickup, as long as there is enough room.

Trailer10.jpeg

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Trailer11.jpeg

I'm now caught up on updating the thread. The biggest item I have remaining is to install a pair of gas piston's to assist with opening the lid. The lid is difficult to open now that the RTT is on top of it. This part makes me nervous because I have an idea on how to make them work but I don't want to mess up the paint and then miscalculate and have to mess up more paint. I'll have to continue working on this part over the winter.

Justin
 

Copasspupil

Observer
Like what you’ve done especially your lighting control setup. Heck I even check out where you were in Washington. Keep it up.
 

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